This Weel's Conservative Chronicle

Conservative
C hronicle
THIS WEEK'S COVER TOPIC: Administration Radicals, by Phyllis Schlafly
Barack Obama’s radical rogues gallery
Another kooky Barack Obama ap- of Education Arne Duncan is notorious for try- is a woman who said repeatedly that a “Latina
pointee became publicly known this ing to start a gay high school in Chicago.
woman” would make better judicial decisions TOPIC INDEX
month and quickly was thrown or
than “a white male.”
November 25, 2009
voluntarily threw herself under the bus. Anita
OBAMA’S Safe Schools Czar, Kevin Jen-
Obama’s top lawyer at the State Department,
Dunn, the White House communications direc- nings, founded the Gay, Lesbian, Straight Edu- Harold Hongju Koh, calls himself a transnation-
ACORN
Malkin (25)
tor (who led Obama’s war on Fox News), said cation Network (GLSEN), a homosexual activ- alist. That means wanting U.S. courts to “do-
Administration Radicals
that Mao Tse-tung was one of her two favorite ist group that now has thousands of chapters at mesticate” foreign and international law, i.e., Schlafly (1)
“political philosophers” whom “I turn to most” high schools across the nation.
integrate it into U.S. domestic law binding on Afghanistan
for answers to important questions.
U.S. citizens.
Blankley (30)
Answer Man
Koh is eager to put us under a global legal Seamans (14)
HISTORY identifies Mao as a ruthless sav-
system that would diminish our “distinctive Blame
age, not as a philosopher. He probably holds
rights culture” such as due process, trial by
Phyllis
Greenberg (24)
Deficit
the record for ordering the mass murder of more
jury and our First Amendment “protections for Calabrese (14)
people (50 to 100 million) than anyone else in
speech and religion” that give “far greater em-
Democrats
history.
phasis and judicial protection in America than in
Schlafly
Lambro (11)
Dunn tried to claim that her statement was
Europe or Asia.” Under global governance, the Dissent
Malkin (5)
a joke, but anyone can look at her actual state-
United States will be forbidden to allow more Dunn, Anita
ment on Youtube and see that she spoke in
freedom and constitutional rights than other Tyrrell (13)
deadly earnest. Dunn was part of Obama’s in-
GLSEN chapters and materials have pro- countries.
Economy
Lambro (15)
ner circle and a senior media adviser during the moted sex between young teens and adults and
When Obama’s appointee for the Seventh Limbaugh (3)
2008 presidential campaign.
sponsored “field trips” to gay pride parades. Circuit Court of Appeals, David Hamilton, was Gay ‘Marriage’
Dunn’s husband, Bob Bauer, an expert on Jennings was the keynote speaker at a notorious a District Court judge, he prohibited the Indiana Jacoby (23)
campaign financing, fund-raising and voter GLSEN conference at Tufts University in 2000 State Legislature from giving an invocation that Gender Roles
Murchison (21)
mobilization, is Obama’s personal lawyer. He at which HIV/AIDS coordinators discussed in mentioned Jesus, while mention of Allah was Gold Standard
has just been appointed White House Counsel detail, before an audience including area high allowed. Hamilton worked for ACORN and the Will (13)
where he will be in charge of vetting Obama’s school students, how to perform various homo- ACLU, and even the liberal American Bar As-
Government Control
Williams (10)
appointees.
sexual acts.
sociation rated him “not qualified.”
Health Care
Obama’s Green Jobs Czar, Van Jones, had
Obama’s Science Czar wrote in a college
Charen (10)
to exit in disgrace after he admitted that “I was textbook that compulsory “green abortions” are
AND WE thought the Rev. Jeremiah Wright Morris (15)
Job Losses
a Communist.” We can thank Glenn Beck for an acceptable way to control population growth. was an embarrassment to Barack Obama Barone (12)
exposing him.
We assume that what makes an abortion green when he was running for President! We never Left, The
Obama’s Regulatory Czar, Cass Sunstein, is when the motive for the killing is population dreamed Obama would actually appoint such a Prager (8)
wrote a book in 2008 in which he declared that control to serve environmentalist dogma.
collection of weirdos.
Lockerbie Bomber
Saunders (28)
the government “owns the rights to body parts
Affirmative action is in vogue in Obama’s
Military
of people who are dead or in certain hopeless administration: his Diversity Czar has spoken
November 17, 2009
Norris (29)
conditions, and it can remove their organs with- publicly of getting white media executives to __________________________________________
Mohammed Trial
Bozell (20)
out asking anyone’s permission.” So, after the “step down” in favor of minorities. Obama’s PHYLLIS SCHLAFLY
Buchanan (18)
death consultants authorized in Nancy Pelosi’s first appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court (c) 2009, Creators Syndicate
Jeffrey (19)
health care bill convince you to reject life-sav-
__________________________________________
Lee (16)
ing procedures, the organ-transplant team can
Limbaugh (17)
Morris (18)
remove your body’s organs immediately.
Thomas (16)
Czar Sunstein also argues that animals are
Muslims
entitled to have lawyers to sue humans in court.
Coulter (7)
National Security
Bow, wow; more business for trial lawyers.
Elder (31)
His wife, Samantha Power, is now on Obama’s
Obama, Barack
National Security Council. She is famous for
Charen (6)
writing a Pulitzer Prize-winning book about
Jacoby (6)
Sowell (9)
genocide, which she defined so narrowly that it
Palin, Sarah
excluded Stalin and Mao.
Lowry (2)
Obama’s nominee for the Equal Employ-
Political Climate
Cain (22)
ment Opportunity Commission, Chai R. Feld-
Political Correctness
blum, signed a 2006 manifesto endorsing po-
Chavez (27)
lygamous households. This lengthy document,
Krauthammer (4)
called “Beyond Same-Sex Marriage,” argues
Thomas (9)
Prejean, Carrie
that traditional marriage should not be “privi-
Gallagher (23)
leged above all others.”
Stimulus

Obama’s education appointments, who came
Shapiro (22)
Twitter

out of the Chicago political machine right along
Harsanyi (21)
with Rahm Emanuel and David Axelrod, will
Veterans

have nearly $100 billion in new money to in-
North (26)
Shapiro (27)
doctrinate America’s youth. Obama’s Secretary

---

2 November 25, 2009
Conservative Chronicle
SARAH PALIN: November 16, 2009
Cultural phenom: Sarah Palin’s roguish charm
Harry Truman gave them hell. Sar-
ternal war over its vice-presidential shells. No political consultant would
REPUBLICANS need these voters
ah Palin gives them agita.
nominee.
ever approve of her M.O.; for Palin’s more than ever given the roiling grass-
The Associated Press unleashed 11
Palin takes her title from a McCa- purposes, no political consultant could roots revolt against Obama’s gover-
fact checkers on her new book, Going in aide’s description of her refusal to possibly improve on it.
nance. Without them, they can’t get
Rogue, for a thoroughly tendentious abide by every tittle of the campaign
a majority; they’d be doomed if they
critical examination. Newsweek, the script. The most entertaining parts of
PALIN IS as much a cultural phe- were ever to slide into a splinter party.
influential liberal magazine of opin-
her breezy, readable book are when nomenon as a political one. If that’s a If Palin is their voice and channels
ion, published a cover piece damning she takes up the long knives herself strength, it’s also a drag. It’s not easy their energy productively, she’s part of
her to the outer darkness, balanced by and plunges them into the McCain for a cultural lightning rod to win the the Republican answer to Obama, no
another piece damning her to the fur-
aides she believes mishandled her, White House. Just ask Hillary.
matter what presidential politics ulti-
ther-outer darkness. The conservative-
or trashed her anonymously after the
Political detox is possible, of course. mately holds for her. There’s an upside
leaning New York Times columnist Da-
campaign.
Richard Nixon wasn’t the red-hunting to rogue.
vid Brooks called her “a joke.”
Major political candidates don’t vice-presidential candidate of 1952
typically name and shame staff in their when he ran for president in 1968; Bob
IT’S SEPTEMBER 2008 all over memoirs, but Palin is doing it under Dole wasn’t the partisan hatchet man
again. All the same players are lining extreme provocation. The “Was Sarah of his 1976 vice-presidential campaign
up to put a good hate on Sarah Palin. mishandled?” debate will endure as when he took on Bill Clinton 20 years
She’s like an isotope designed to course long as anyone cares about the 2008 later; Jerry Brown won’t be the New
throughout our politics and culture, campaign. Almost every particular is Age “governor moonbeam” of 1974
lighting up press
disputed by some- when he runs for governor of California
bias, self-congrat-
one or other in the again next year. These transformations
ulatory liberalism,
McCain camp. It’s were the work of decades, though, and __________________________________________
RICH LOWRY
Christianity-hating
Rich
fair to say this: Palin no longer occupies the Alaska (c) 2009, King Features Syndicate
secularism and in-
Yes, the campaign governorship, where — prior to her __________________________________________
tellectual conde-
had a hugely diffi- national ascension — she governed as
Lowry
scension wherever
cult task in taking a center-right pragmatist.
Please check your
they are found.
Palin from 0 to 60
But why should Palin change? She
The contempt of
mph on the nation- represents less a philosophical strain
mailing label
her enemies only increases the ardor al stage, but it handled it badly — and, on the right than an affect and a de-
for any needed changes
of her fans. Palin is the most divisive in the end, gracelessly.
mographic. What makes her otherwise
woman in America, supplanting a Hil-
Palin has lived to tell the tale be- orthodox conservatism different is the
or
lary Clinton who is losing her electric cause going rogue is now her operat- plain-spoken, combative way she ex-
corrections.
political charge as Barack Obama’s ing principle. Her base of support is so presses it and the constituency she at-
mostly irrelevant secretary of state. intense, she doesn’t need supply lines tracts. Her supporters identify with her
Contact us at:
First, Palin divided Democrats and into the political or media establish- populist, unaffected vibe and tend to
Republicans. Then she divided the ment. She transformed her Facebook be disaffected with politics as usual —
800-888-3039
conservative commentariat. Finally, page into a must-read organ of con- they’re Palin Perotistas. A drastic im-
she divided the McCain campaign it-
servative opinion by lobbing “I can’t age makeover would only drive them
or e-mail:
self, which devolved into an ugly in-
believe she said that” rhetorical bomb- away.
conserve@iowaconnect.com
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---

Conservative Chronicle
November 25, 2009 3
ECONOMY: November 13, 2009
More White House economic baloney
Of the many thoughts I had to end the recession and “created and
watching President Barack saved more than a million jobs?” Well,
Obama’s umpteenth speech he has engineered massive spending and
on the economy Thursday morning, the debt explosions, but many weren’t even
most troubling was his refusal to accept calculated to stimulate the economy, es-
responsibility for his disastrous policies.
pecially in the short run.
ABC reported that as of Oct. 30, the
WITH unemployment having soared White House claimed 640,329 jobs had
to 10.2 percent, wouldn’t it have been rea-
been created or saved as a result of the
sonable to expect that any Obama speech $159 billion in stimulus funds allocated
on the economy would at least acknowl-
as of Sept. 30, a figure provably bogus on
edge that his “stimulus” plan didn’t come its face, considering that the jobs reports
close to achieving the results he promised, were inflated and that many of the “cre-
starting with his claim that unemployment ated” jobs were short-lived and already
would peak at eight percent?
over. But ABC noted that even if you
Even a fallible leader would be hum-
accept the administration’s projected fig-
bled by this failed performance, but en-
ure of one million, which Obama is now
joying messianic stature, the expectations clearly claiming, the math indicates that
bar is rightfully much higher for Obama. the stimulus cost taxpayers $160,000 per
Yet instead of show-
job created or saved.
ing contrition, he
Just to illustrate
took to the micro-
the speciousness of he prevented responsible homeowners necessarily resulted in middle-class tax
phone in a surreal,
David
Obama’s preposter- from losing their homes, when everyone hikes, just as his planned double-digit
boastful mode, as if
ously unprovable knows that included in his unconstitu- trillions of new government debt would
calculating that as-
claim that saved jobs tional $75 billion government bailout of necessitate across-the-board tax increases
Limbaugh
suming an offensive
are measurable, you mortgagors were payments to those mil- just to service the interest.
posture would fool
should know that lions who irresponsibly did not pay their
Of all the words Obama uttered,
people into ignoring
two administration mortgage debts.
though, nothing came close in sheer au-
reality.
financial officials, Ed DeSeve and Jared
As for his claim that he has cut taxes for dacity to his announcement that he had
He bragged about the “bold steps” he Bernstein, were unable to say how many middle-class families, he didn’t mention planned “a forum at the White House on
had taken “to break the back of this reces-
of the 640,329 jobs were saved and how that his treasury secretary, Tim Geithner, jobs and economic growth ... to talk about
sion.” He said he’d prevented “responsi-
many were created. It’s also noteworthy and his National Economic Council direc- how we can work together to create jobs
ble homeowners from losing their homes that Obama promised in January that tor, Larry Summers, have already refused and get this economy moving again.”
... cut taxes for middle-class families ... more than 90 percent of the stimulus jobs to rule out the possibility that Obama will
Isn’t this the precise combination of
and created and saved more than a million would be in the private sector, but more raise taxes on the middle class. Of course, words Obama used to sell his stimulus
jobs.” But, “We all know that there are than half — 325,000 — were in educa- the promise would already have been package in the first place: “creating jobs
limits to what government can and should tion alone.
permanently breached if Obama had got- to get the economy moving again?” The
do, even during such difficult times.”
ten his way on the cap-and-tax bill and answer is yes. A few months ago, Obama
Let’s examine his claims. Bold actions
THEN there’s Obama’s assertion that Obamacare, each of which would have wasn’t looking for experts to tell him how
to stimulate the economy. He claimed to
be the expert with the magic bullet solu-
tion.Having demonstrably failed, Obama
is now convening a photo-op summit, de-
signed to deflect blame and personal ac-
countability for his policy failures and to
provide an excuse to give us more of the
same, because you can bet that he won’t
be inviting Friedman free marketers, but
academic adherents to failed Keynesian
thinking and businesspeople whose judg-
ment and policy endorsement he has pur-
chased or will purchase with your money.
DESPITE Obama’s claim that he rec-
ognizes that “there are limits to what gov-
ernment can and should do,” more and
more Americans realize he believes quite
the opposite and that he is committed to
doing everything in his power to continue
to dismantle the economic system that has
made America the most prosperous na-
tion in history. We don’t need a summit,
but midterm elections to restore to power
those who believe in the free market —
among other enduring American ideals.
__________________________________________
DAVID LIMBAUGH
(c) 2009, Creators Syndicate
__________________________________________

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4 November 25, 2009
Conservative Chronicle
POLITICAL CORRECTNESS: November 13, 2009
Medicalizing the commission of mass murder
What a surprise — that some- — not the Upper West Side therapist
one who shouts “Allahu treating Woody Allen neurotics, but
Akbar” (the “God is great” the thousands of doctors working with
jihadist battle cry) as he is shooting up a hospitalized psychotics — who every
room of American soldiers might have day hear not just tales but cries of the
Islamist motives. It certainly was a sur-
most excruciating anguish, of the most
prise to the mainstream media, which unimaginable torment? How many of
spent the weekend after the Fort Hood those doctors commit mass murder?
massacre downplaying Nidal Hasan’s
It’s been decades since I practiced
religious beliefs.
psychiatry. Perhaps I missed the epi-
demic.
“I CRINGE that he’s a Muslim. ... I
But, of course, if the shooter is
think he’s probably just a nut case,” said named Nidal Hasan, whom National
Newsweek’s Evan Thomas. Some were Public Radio reported had been trying
more adamant. Time’s Joe Klein decried to proselytize doctors and patients, then
“odious attempts by Jewish extremists something must be found. Presto! Sec-
... to argue that the massacre perpetrated ondary post-traumatic stress disorder, a
by Nidal Hasan was
handy invention to
somehow a direct
allow one to ignore
consequence of his
the obvious.
Islamic beliefs.”
Charles
And the per-
While none could
fect moral finesse.
CONSIDER the army’s treatment It included an allegedly authoritative
match Klein’s pecu-
Medicalizing mass of Hasan’s previous behavior. NPR’s elaboration of the punishments visited
Krauthammer
liar cherchez-le-juif
murder not only ex- Daniel Zwerdling interviewed a Hasan upon nonbelievers — consignment to
motif, the popular
onerates. It turns the colleague at Walter Reed about a hair- hell, decapitation, having hot oil poured
story line was of an army psychiatrist murderer into a victim, indeed a sympa- raising Grand Rounds that Hasan had down your throat. This “really freaked a
driven over the edge by terrible stories thetic one. After all, secondary PTSD, apparently given. Grand Rounds are lot of doctors out,” reported NPR.
he had heard from soldiers returning for those who believe in it (you won’t the most serious academic event at a
Nor was this the only incident. “The
from Iraq and Afghanistan.
find it in DSM-IV-TR, psychiatry’s teaching hospital — attending physi- psychiatrist,” reported Zwerdling, “said
They suffered. He listened. He Diagnostic and Statistical Manual), is cians, residents and students gather for a that he was the kind of guy who the staff
snapped.
known as “compassion fatigue.” The lecture on an instructive case history or actually stood around in the hallway
Really? What about the doctors and poor man — pushed over the edge by therapeutic finding.
saying: Do you think he’s a terrorist, or
nurses, the counselors and physical an excess of sensitivity.
I’ve been to dozens of these. In fact, is he just weird?”
therapists at Walter Reed Army Medi-
Have we totally lost our moral bear- I gave one myself on post-traumatic
Was anything done about this poten-
cal Center who every day hear and live ings? Nidal Hasan (allegedly) cold- retrograde amnesia — as you can see, tial danger? Of course not. Who wants
with the pain and the suffering of return-
bloodedly killed 13 innocent people. In these lectures are fairly technical. Not to be accused of Islamophobia and prej-
ing soldiers? How many of them then such cases, political correctness is not Hasan’s. His was an hour-long disqui- udice against a colleague’s religion?
picked up a gun and shot 51 innocents? just an abomination. It’s a danger, clear sition on what he called the Koranic
One must not speak of such things.
And what about civilian psychiatrists and present.
view of military service, jihad and war. Not even now. Not even after we know
that Hasan was in communication with
a notorious Yemen-based jihad propa-
gandist. As late as Tuesday, the New
York Times was running a story on how
returning soldiers at Fort Hood had a
high level of violence.
What does such violence have to do
with Hasan? He was not a returning
soldier. And the soldiers who returned
home and shot their wives or fellow sol-
diers didn’t cry “Allahu Akbar” as they
squeezed the trigger.
The delicacy about the religion in
question — condescending, politically
correct and deadly — is nothing new. A
week after the first (1993) World Trade
Center attack, the same New York Times
ran the following front-page headline
about the arrest of one Mohammed
Salameh: “Jersey City Man Is Charged
in Bombing of Trade Center.”
AH YES, those Jersey men — so
resentful of New York, so prone to vio-
lence.
__________________________________________
CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER
(c) 2009, Washington Post Writers Group
__________________________________________

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Conservative Chronicle
November 25, 2009 5
DISSENT: November 18, 2009
Obama’s double-talk on political dissent
President Obama traveled all the cal of the “fatally flawed” cap-and-trade
way to China to praise the free system — peddled by their agency, the
flow of information. It’s the only White House and the Democratic major-
safe place he could do so without getting ity — were told by their superiors to yank
heckled. With a straight face, Obama a video they posted to YouTube explain-
lauded political dissent and told Chinese ing their views. Despite including a cave-
students he welcomed unfettered criti-
at that the opinions expressed were their
cism in America. Fierce opposition, he own and not the agency’s, the couple fac-
said, made him “a better leader because es possible disciplinary action by the feds.
it forces me to hear opinions that I don’t While demanding the video be yanked,
want to hear.” How do you say “You lie!” the EPA disingenuously claims it tolerates
in Mandarin?
all dissenting views of its employees.
The clampdown follows on the heels ministration’s resident Mao cheerleader
That get-out-the-vote outfit, helmed by
WHILE the kowtower-in-chief’s of the Obama EPA’s stifling of veteran re- and Fox News-basher — stepped down Patrick Gaspard (the former Service Em-
press shop feeds paeans to free speech searcher Alan Carlin’s dissent. He dared to take a planned role as a “consultant” ployees International Union heavy turned
into Obama’s globetrotting teleprompter, to challenge the agency’s reliance on out- behind the scenes, her husband, Robert Obama domestic policy chief), employed
the White House is still waging war on dated data to support its greenhouse gas Bauer, stepped up and shoved aside White convicted felons as canvassers and com-
vocal foes at home. Obama has lectured “public endangerment” finding. Carlin’s House counsel Greg Craig.
mitted campaign finance violations that
his critics in Washington to stop talking report was squelched; his office is now on
led to a $775,000 fine by the Federal Elec-
and “get out of the way.” He has stacked the chopping block.
THE problem? Former Clinton law- tion Commission under Bauer’s watch.
his carefully staged town halls with parti-
In China, O proclaimed himself “a yer Craig wasn’t tough enough for Chi-
During the 2008 campaign, Bauer
san stooges and campaign plants through-
big supporter of non-censorship.” But cago-on-the-Potomac. Obama needed an pooh-poohed GOP complaints about vot-
out the year. The president recently de-
his FCC “diversity” czar, Mark Lloyd, is intimate ally who will put hardball poli- er fraud. While decrying the Republicans’
rided limited-government activists in the bent on re-engineering public airwaves by tics ahead of policy and the law. Bauer fits “fear message,” it was Bauer who was on
Tea Party move-
redistributing free the bill.
a fear-inducing crusade — pulling out all
ment with a vulgar
speech rights from
A partner at the prestigious law firm legal stops to silence conservative critics
sexual term used by
Michelle
conservative haves Perkins & Coie, Bauer served as coun- of Obama’s ties to the radical left.
left-wing cable host
who earned their sel to the Democratic National Commit-
As I’ve noted previously, and in light of
Anderson Cooper
success to minor- tee, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Obama’s self-serving praise for political
on CNN and the
ity have-nots who Committee, the Democratic Congressio- dissent abroad, I note again: It was Bauer
Malkin
MSNBC smear mer-
demand talk radio nal Campaign Committee and Obama for who lobbied the Justice Department un-
chants (just Google
entitlements in the America. He has served as Obama’s per- successfully last fall to pursue a criminal
“teabagging” and you’ll see what they name of “media justice.”
sonal attorney, navigating the corrupted probe of American Issues Project (AIP),
mean).
And among Obama’s closest advisers waters of former Democratic Gov. Rod an independent group that sought to run
There are now more muzzled watch-
is a husband-and-wife duo who specializ- Blagojevich’s pay-for-play scandals in an ad spotlighting Obama’s ties to Weath-
dogs in the Obama administration than on es in marginalizing and stifling the Demo- Illinois. He also served as legal counsel er Underground terrorist Bill Ayers.
the sidelines of the Westminster Kennel cratic Party’s most effective enemies. Just to the George Soros-funded 527 organi-
It was Bauer and his legal goon squad
Club show.
days after White House interim commu- zation America Coming Together during who attempted to sic the DOJ on GOP
Most recently, two EPA lawyers criti-
nications director Anita Dunn — the ad- the 2004 campaign.
donor Harold Simmons and sought his
prosecution for funding the ad. In a paral-
lel effort launched the same week as Bau-
er’s legal efforts, a nonprofit called “Ac-
countable America,” spearheaded by a
former operative of the Obama-endorsing
MoveOn outfit, began trolling campaign
finance databases and targeting conser-
vative donors with “warning letters” in a
thuggish attempt to depress Republican
fund-raising.
It was Bauer who tried to bully tele-
vision stations across the country into
pulling the spot. Team Obama then sum-
moned their troops to bombard stations,
many of them owned by conservative-
leaning Sinclair Communications, with
93,000 emails to squelch the commercial.
WITH Bob “The Silencer” Bauer
now working from the inside and Anita
“News Commissar” Dunn working from
the outside, Obama has a state media po-
lice apparatus the Chinese regime itself
could love.
__________________________________________
MICHELLE MALKIN
(c) 2009, Creators Syndicate
__________________________________________

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6 November 25, 2009
Conservative Chronicle
BARACK OBAMA: November 17, 2009
How low can he go? Obama bows again
President Obama, who nearly think or feel. But some American atti- bow is — yes, I’ll say it — un-Amer- eye-to-eye with royalty, what else were
prostrated himself before the tudes are, or used to be, woven deeply ican.
1776 and all that about?”
king of Saudi Arabia last April, into our character. Most Americans
Here, let the New York Times explain
has once again bowed low to a monarch have a visceral distaste, dating back to it. In 1994, the Times gently rebuked
PRESIDENT Obama’s bows, cou-
— this time to the emperor of Japan.
our founding, for truckling to royalty. President Clinton for “almost” bowing to pled with his global apology tours, sug-
What to make of this obsequious Article One, Section 9 of the Consti- the Japanese emperor. “It wasn’t a bow, gest something other than politeness.
body language?
tution states: “No title of nobility shall exactly,” the editorial chided, “(b)ut Mr. President Obama has repeatedly re-
be granted by the
Clinton came close. minded us that he thinks we have been
AFTER THE presidential frame United States: —
He inclined his arrogant and high-handed in our deal-
went perpendicular before the Saudi And no person
head and shoulders ings with other nations. By bowing and
royal, the White House at first denied holding any office
forward, he pressed scraping, he intends to drop us down a
Mona
that the president had bowed. He was of profit or trust
his hands together. peg or two. The president of the United
merely leaning over, Robert Gibbs under them shall,
It lasted no longer States really did intend to show obei-
explained, because the president was without the consent
than a snapshot, but sance to the King of Saudi Arabia and
Charen
“taller than the king.” That might make of Congress, accept
the image on the to defer to the emperor of Japan. He ap-
sense — to anyone who had not seen the any present, emolu-
South Lawn was in- pears to have done so not to flatter those
video. President Obama bent so far over ment, office, or title, of any kind what- delible: an obsequent President, and the nations but only to diminish his own.
that he was at eye level with the king’s ever, from any king, prince, or foreign Emperor of Japan. Canadians still bow __________________________________________
hips.
state.” Kings and emperors have been to England’s Queen; so do Australians. MONA CHAREN
The president’s defenders suggested treated with courtesy, of course, but to Americans shake hands. If not to stand (c) 2009, Creators Syndicate
that he was merely being polite, or sim-
__________________________________________
ply following protocol. Politeness con- BARACK OBAMA: November 12, 2009
sists in treating others with respect and
taking care not to hurt their feelings. But
a bow, well, that’s a different matter.
Last week, the president did it again, President Obama’s swelling ego
bowing from the waist before Japan’s
Emperor Akihito. So what might have
seemed a rookie mistake is now looking
“destiny’’ of his own rise to power.
BUT AS the literary theorist Stanley
deliberate.
President Obama was too busy
to attend the celebrations in
Was there ever a president as deep- Fish points out, “By the time of the ad-
Protocol is not the explanation. While
Germany this week marking ly enamored of himself as Barack dress to the Congress on Feb. 24, the
there have been exceptions, American the fall of the Berlin Wall 20 years ago. Obama?
royal we [had] flowered into the naked
presidents have not traditionally bowed But he did appear by video, delivering
The first President Bush, taught ‘I:’ ‘As soon as I took office, I asked
to royalty. Nor have American diplo- a few brief and bloodless remarks about from childhood to shun what his moth- this Congress.’ ‘I called for action.’ ‘I
mats or citizens of any stripe. Kings and how the wall was “a painful barrier be- er called “The Great I Am,’’ regularly pushed for quick action.’ ‘I have told
queens of England have visited America tween family and friends’’ that symbol- instructed his speechwriters not to in- each of my Cabinet.’ ‘I’ve appointed a
and been quite satisfied to receive a dig- ized “a system that denied people the clude too many “I’s’’ in his prepared proven and aggressive inspector gen-
nified handshake from Americans high freedoms that should be the right of ev- remarks. Reagan maintained that there eral.’ ‘I refuse to let that happen.’’ In
and low. President Roosevelt famously ery human being.’’ He referred to “tyr- was no limit to what someone could his speech on the federal takeover of
served Great Britain’s King George VI anny,’’ but never identified the tyrants achieve if he didn’t mind who got the General Motors, Obama likewise found
and Queen Elizabeth hot dogs at his — he never uttered the words “Soviet credit. George Washington, one of the it necessary to use the first-person sin-
Hyde Park home.
Union’’ or “communism,’’ for example. most accomplished men of his day, said gular pronoun 34 times. (“Congress’’
When it comes to body language, it’s He said nothing about the men and with characteristic modesty on becom- he mentioned just once.)
best to stick to your own culture and tra- women who died trying to cross the ing president that he was “peculiarly
At this rate, it won’t be long before
ditions. A too-eager attempt to ingratiate wall. Nor did he mention Harry Truman conscious of his own deficiencies.’’
the president’s ego is so inflated that it
by adopting others’ customs can back- or Ronald Reagan — or even Mikhail
will require a ZIP code of its own.
fire. According to one Asian expert con- Gorbachev.
Then again, how modest would any
sulted by ABC’s Jake Tapper, Obama’s
of us be if we were as magnificent as
low bow caused considerable conster-
HE DID, however, talk about Ba-
Jeff
Obama? “I am well aware,’’ he told the
nation in Japan. Apparently, a proper rack Obama.
UN General Assembly in September,
Japanese bow under the circumstances
“Few would have foreseen,’’ de-
“of the expectations that accompany
Jacoby
would have been executed with hands at clared the president, “that a united
my presidency around the world.’’
the sides, and a slight tilt from the waist. Germany would be led by a woman
In 1860, writes Doris Kearns Good-
“The bow as he performed it did not just from [the former East German state
Obama, on the other hand, positively win in her celebrated biography Team
display weakness in Red State terms, of] Brandenburg or that their American revels in The Great I Am.
of Rivals, an author wishing to dedicate
but evoked weakness in Japanese terms ally would be led by a man of African
“I think that I’m a better speechwrit- his forthcoming work to Abraham Lin-
...The last thing the Japanese want or descent. But human destiny is what hu- er than my speechwriters,’’ he told cam- coln received this answer: “I give the
need is a weak-looking American presi- man beings make of it.’’
paign aides when he was running for leave, begging only that the inscription
dent and, again, in all ways, he uninten-
As presidential rhetoric goes, this the White House. “I know more about may be in modest terms, not represent-
tionally played that part.”
was hardly a match for “Ich bin ein policies on any particular issue than my ing me as a man of great learning, or a
President Obama makes much of his Berliner,’’ still less another “Mr. Gor- policy directors. And I’ll tell you right very extraordinary one in any respect.’’
international pedigree, the latest itera- bachev, tear down this wall.’’ But as a now that . . . I’m a better political direc-
tion being the boast that he is the “first specimen of presidential narcissism, tor than my political director.’’
OBAMA has often claimed Lincoln
Pacific president” — whatever that it is hard to beat. Obama couldn’t be
At the start of his presidency, Obama as a role model, but it only goes so far.
means. But when he stoops to royalty troubled to visit Berlin to commemo- seemed to content himself with the
this way, he invites the question: How rate a momentous milestone in the his- royal “we’’ — “We will build the roads
American does he feel?
tory of human liberty. But he was glad and bridges. ... We will restore science
to explain to those who were there why to its rightful place. ... We will harness __________________________________________
DON’T hyperventilate. Of course, reflections on that milestone should the sun and winds,’’ he declaimed at his JEFF JACOBY
there is no one way for Americans to inspire appreciation for the self-made inauguration.
(c) 2009, Boston Globe
__________________________________________

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Conservative Chronicle
November 25, 2009 7
MUSLIMS: November 11, 2009
Muslim suffers bruised ego in Fort Hood tragedy
The massacre at Fort Hood last the Times’ laughably predictable head-
week is the perfect apotheo-
lines about the Fort Hood bloodbath
sis of the liberal victimology were:
described in my book Guilty: Liberal
— “Preliminary Inquiry Finds No
“Victims” and Their Assault on Amer-
Link to Terror Plot”
ica.”
— “Painful Stories Take a Toll on
Military Therapists”
ACCORDING to witnesses, Maj.
— “When Soldiers’ Minds Snap”
Nidal Malik Hasan entered a medical
The Los Angeles Times jumped to
facility at Fort Hood, prayed briefly, the exact same conclusion, running
then shouted “Allahu akbar” before he an article on the massacre titled: “Fort
began gunning down American troops. Hood Tragedy Rocks Military as It
Now I don’t know which to be more Grapples With Mental Health Issues.” pects for a health care bill by the end dience of doctors at Walter Reed Army
afraid of: Muslims or government-run Time magazine followed suit, posting of the year.
Medical Center, arguing that non-
health care systems.
an article titled: “Stresses at Fort Hood
Muslims should be beheaded and have
President Obama honored the vic-
Were Likely Intense for Hasan.”
THE evidence for the manifestly burning oil poured down their throats.
tims by immediately warning Ameri-
Inasmuch as Maj. Hasan had nev- obvious conclusion we were supposed
He had tried to contact al Qaeda,
cans not to “jump
er been deployed to avoid jumping to is rather more ex- and at least one U.S. intelligence offi-
to conclusions” —
overseas,
much tensive.
cial says the army knew it.
namely, the obvi-
less seen combat,
According to numerous eyewitness
Despite being well aware of Hasan’s
ous conclusion that
liberals seem to accounts, Hasan denounced the “war disturbing views and conduct, the army
the attack was an
Ann
have discovered the on terror” as a war against Islam, said did nothing.
act of Islamic ter-
first recorded case Muslims should attack Americans in
Far less offensive speech has been
rorism. As conclu-
of “pre-traumatic retaliation for the war in Iraq, defended grounds for discipline or even removal
Coulter
sions go, it wasn’t
stress syndrome.”
suicide bombers and said he was “hap- from duties in the military. In the af-
much of a jump.
Their point was: py” when a Muslim murdered a soldier termath of the Tailhook scandal, for
But the mainstream media waited The real victim of Fort Hood was Maj. at a military recruiting center in Arkan- example, two Navy officers were rep-
for no information — indeed actively Hasan. Indeed, all Muslims were the sas earlier this year.
rimanded and reassigned after putting
avoided learning any information — victims that day.
Stranger still, he wasn’t auditioning up a sign with the words of a nursery
before leaping to the far less obvious
The media quickly set to work as- for his own show on MSNBC when he rhyme altered to include a vulgar sexu-
conclusion that the suspect’s mass sembling lachrymose accounts of made these statements.
al reference to liberal congresswoman
murder was set off by “stress.”
taunts Hasan had been subjected to in
Hasan shared a “spiritual adviser” Patricia Schroeder.
The day after the slaughter, the New the military for being a Muslim, the with two of the Sept. 11 hijackers,
But a Muslim army doctor can go
York Times ran one editorial and two most harrowing of which seems to Imam Anwar al Awlaki, whose un- around a military installation somber-
of three op-eds asserting as much — have been his car being keyed at his seemly enthusiasm for jihad got him ly advocating the beheading of infi-
which was at least one more than the off-base apartment complex.
banned from speaking in Britain, even dels, and the girls running the military
Times usually runs about psycho-killer
I suppose we should be relieved by video link.
treat him like he’s Nicole Kidman and
soldiers going on rampages.
that liberals weren’t claiming Hasan
A few years ago, Hasan delivered an they’re press junket reporters.
Two days after the mass shooting, snapped because of the dimming pros- hour-long PowerPoint lecture to an au-
The army’s top brass, Gen. George
Casey, responded to the military’s
shocking decision to keep a terrorist-
sympathizing Muslim in the army by
announcing: “Our diversity ... is a
strength.” And I thought gays couldn’t
openly serve in the military.
On Sept. 11, 2001, Muslims moved
to the top of liberals’ victim pantheon
on the basis of having slaughtered 3,000
Americans. Muslims were “victims” of
Americans’ displeasure with them for
the biggest terrorist attack in world
history. The only American deserving
of more coddling than a Muslim is the
first African-American president.
SO, NOW any dyspeptic expression
toward a Muslim is grounds for calling
in a diversity coordinator. And when
the “victim” attacks, as at Fort Hood,
the rest of us are supposed to feel
guilty because Hasan’s car got keyed
once. As with all liberal “victims,” it is
the victim who is massively guilty.
__________________________________________
ANN COULTER
(c) 2009, Ann Coulter
__________________________________________

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8 November 25, 2009
Conservative Chronicle
THE LEFT: November 17, 2009
The silver lining of the left in power
There may be a major silver Now, this has all changed. Ameri-
lining for conservatives and cans are watching California enacted
for America’s future thanks on the national stage.
to the foreign and domestic policies of
And it is scaring all but the ideolog-
President Obama and the Democrat-
ically committed left — a rather small,
controlled House and Senate: For the if profoundly influential and powerful,
first time in their lives, millions of minority. This is why last week, Gallup
Americans are coming to understand reported an extraordinarily dramatic
the left.
and quick shift of independent voters’
electoral preferences. In the Gallup
IT IS difficult to overstate how im- Poll’s words: “Over the course of the
portant this is. For decades, the left year, independents’ preference for the
has largely controlled the news media, Republican candidate in their districts
the arts, the universities and the enter-
has grown, from a one-point advantage
tainment media. And vast numbers of in July to the current 22-point gap.”
Americans have imbibed these leftist
In half a year, there has been a 23
messages and the leftist critiques of percent shift from Democrats to Re-
conservatives. What these Americans publicans among independent voters.
have never been
And nothing par-
able to do is to
ticularly bad had
see what the left
occurred — no
would actually do
Dennis
further economic
2. The left is naive about evil. Most he’s probably just a nut case. But with
if in power.
meltdown, no ter- Americans deemed Communism evil; that label (Muslim) attached to him, it
Of course, all
rorist attack from the left ridiculed President Ronald will get the right wing going ...”
one had to do was Prager
abroad (the Poll Reagan for calling the Soviet Union an
3. The left is more interested in re-
look at Califor-
preceded the Fort “evil empire” and often undermined distributing wealth than in creating
nia and see how a
Hood attack).
the fight against the Communist world. it. This should have been as obvious
left-wing legisla-
Now Ameri- So, too, the left is naive about Islamic to Americans as the brightness of the
ture brought the country’s largest state cans see the left’s policies for what terror and undermines the fight against sun. Finally, Americans are coming to
economy to near insolvency and bank-
they are:
it.
realize that the left’s goal is now, as it
ruptcy, chased away many of its most
1. The left wants America to aban-
always has been, equality, not prosper-
productive citizens and wasted tens of don its defining commitment to indi-
THE SMOKING gun was the ity.
billions of dollars thanks in large mea-
vidualism and replace it with a Euro- nearly universal denial by the left that
4. The left is far more interested
sure to union domination of the state’s pean-style nanny, or welfare, state. At his Islamic beliefs had anything to do in power than the right is. This, too,
politics.
most Americans’ core is an abiding with Maj. Nidal Hasan’s mass murder should have been self-evident, but fi-
But most Americans do not observe belief that we are supposed to take of fellow servicemen at Fort Hood. nally, people are realizing that those
other states. Most Americans are pre-
care of ourselves, our families and our One of many examples was this reac- who are preoccupied with creating an
occupied with their lives and, unfortu-
neighbors, and not rely on the state to tion to the shootings by Evan Thomas, ever-expanding state are obviously far
nately, with what is on television.
do so.
Editor at Large at Newsweek: “I think more interested in amassing power
than those who want a smaller state.
5. The left is preoccupied with
America being loved, and in pursuit of
that end, compromises some of Amer-
ica’s core values. Examples abound
here, too. To cite a few: the Obama ad-
ministration’s neglect of those in Iran
risking their lives for freedom in that
tyranny; the administration’s refusal
to meet with the Dalai Lama when the
Tibetan leader visited Washington, lest
the president annoy China’s dictators;
the American government siding with
Hugo Chavez against the Honduran
government, which had legally re-
moved a Chavez clone from the Hon-
duran presidency and the president’s
obsequious apologies for America
wherever he goes.
A MOTTO of my radio show and
of my life is “Clarity is our friend.” It
is certainly so here. Clarity about the
left will be a blessing to America.
__________________________________________
DENNIS PRAGER
(c) 2009, Creators Syndicate
__________________________________________

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Conservative Chronicle
November 25, 2009 9
POLITICAL CORRECTNESS: November 12, 2009
E pluribus diversity? Two-way street
Government and military offi- dier. That’s why it is difficult to believe They mostly practice Sharia law, which Council on American-Islamic Rela-
cials have issued statements he wasn’t forced to say on the Sunday backlashes against anyone who won’t tions (CAIR), the Islamic Society of
since last week’s shooting news programs, “As great a tragedy submit to their fundamentalist view of North America (ISNA) and the Muslim
rampage at Fort Hood, Texas, that have as this was, it would be a shame if our the world.
Public Affairs Council (MPAC).
nothing to do with the reality of what diversity became a casualty as well.”
The U.S. State Department’s web
Why do so many American leaders
occurred, what is occurring and what Gen. Casey also spoke of his “concern” portal, www.america.gov, provides a seem ashamed and apologetic about
our enemies would still like to have oc- that a “backlash”
perfect example of America? Holding to the view that
cur all over the United States. Listen- might take place
the problem. The America is unexceptional and that no
ing to them leads to the conclusion that against Muslim sol-
site bills itself as a idea, policy, belief or practice is to be
these people were handed talking points diers, though there
place to “meet the preferred over any other is not diver-
because they are all saying pretty much has been little that
Cal
people” and “ex- sity. Rather, it is thin gruel; unappeal-
the same thing; that we shouldn’t jump could reasonably
plore the values and ing and unappetizing, and it robs us of
to conclusions, stereotype or give in to be called a backlash
ideas that define our strength.
Thomas
paranoia.
since 9/11.
the character of the
Did diversity build and sustain
The
alleged
United States.” But America through world wars and eco-
AS THE quote says, “Just because shooter, Army Maj. Nidal Malik when it comes to American Muslim or- nomic challenges? No, it was a firm set
you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they’re Hasan, was unimpressed by our diver- ganizations, that often means providing of principles held by patriots of many
not out to get you.”
sity. In fact, it may have been diversity a U.S. government stamp of approval races who were willing to pay the price
Army Chief of Staff Gen. George that set him off. Hasan and other Mus- to organizations allegedly linked to in money and blood. These days, we
Casey is a good man and a faithful sol- lim extremists don’t practice diversity. the Muslim Brotherhood, such as the seem to be increasingly confronted with
people who are the political equivalent
BARACK OBAMA: November 17, 2009
of shoplifters: they want the benefits
without paying the price.
IF YOU are unwilling to part with
Bowing to ‘world opinion’
the money you earned while building a
business, or a life, to fund a life for oth-
ers who refused to do so, are you self-
loose lips are mandated under the rules of
BEHIND this decision and others is ish? As a way of punishment, should
criminal prosecutions.
the notion that we have to demonstrate your hard-earned money be given over
In the string of amazing decisions
made during the first year of the
Obama administration, nothing
Tragically, this administration seems our good faith to other nations, sometimes to those who didn’t earn it?
seems more like sheer insanity than the hell-bent to avoid seeing acts of terrorism called “world opinion.” Just who are these
If you have a particular faith (Chris-
decision to try foreign terrorists, who have against the United States as acts of war. saintly nations whose favor we must cur- tian) you are to be discriminated
committed acts of war against the United The very phrase “war on terrorism” is ry, at the risk of American lives and the against and silenced. Your sacred sym-
States, in federal court, as if they were avoided, as if that will stop the terrorists’ national security of the United States?
bols — from crosses on a desert moun-
American citizens accused of crimes.
war on us.
Internationally, the law of the jungle tain, to Nativity displays in public
The mindset of the left behind such ultimately prevails, despite pious talk places — are banned. You increasingly
TERRORISTS are not even entitled to thinking was spelled out in an editorial about “the international community” and are forbidden to pray publicly “in Je-
the protection of the Geneva Convention, in the San Francisco Chronicle, which “world opinion,” or the pompous and cor- sus’ name,” but Muslims can speak of
much less the Constitution of the United said that “Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the rupt farce of the United Nations. Yet this Allah and Mohammed anywhere they
States. Terrorists have never observed,
is the gallery to which Barack Obama has like and who is foolish enough to try to
nor even claimed to have observed, the
been playing, both before and after be- silence them?
Geneva Convention, nor are they among
coming President of the United States.
Apparently, “diversity” is not for
those covered by it.
Thomas
In the wake of the obscenity of a trial everyone and even if it were, what does
But over and above the utter inconsis-
of terrorists in federal court for an act of it mean? To those who wish to impose
tency of what is being done is the utter
war — and the worldwide propaganda it, it seems to mean that no one can any
Sowell
recklessness it represents. The last time
platform it will give them — it may seem longer speak of truth, or even seek it
an attack on the World Trade Center was
to be a small thing that President Obama out, because according to the rules of
treated as a matter of domestic criminal
has been photographed yet again bowing diversity, there is no objective truth.
justice was after a bomb was exploded professed mastermind of the 9/11 terror- deeply to a foreign ruler. But how large Thinking so makes you a fundamen-
there in 1993. Under the rules of Ameri- ist attacks, will be tried the right way — or small an act is depends on its actual talist, unless you are a fundamental-
can criminal law, the prosecution had to the American way, in a federal courtroom consequences, not on whether the politi- ist Muslim, in which case you are to
turn over all sorts of information to the de- where the world will see both his guilt and cally correct intelligentsia think it is no be accommodated, pacified and given
fense — information that told the al Qae- the nation’s adherence to the rule of law.” big deal.
special rights — like ritual footbaths,
da international terrorist network what we
This is not the rule of law but the ap-
prayer rooms and prayer times at pub-
knew about them and how we knew it.
plication of laws to situations for which
AS A private citizen, Barack Obama lic schools and universities that would
This was nothing more and nothing they were not designed.
has a right to make as big a jackass of probably be denied and challenged as
less than giving away military secrets to
How many Americans may pay with himself as he wants to. But, as President violations of church-state separation if
an enemy in wartime — something for their lives for the intelligence secrets and of the United States, his actions not only a Jew or a Christian were to make re-
which people have been executed, as they methods that can forced to be disclosed denigrate a nation that other nations rely quests unique to their faiths.
should have been. Secrecy in warfare is a to al Qaeda was not mentioned. Nor was on for survival, but raise questions about
matter of life and death. Lives were risked there mention of how many foreign na- how reliable our judgment and resolve are
I GROW weary of having to tolerate
and lost during World War II to prevent tions and individuals whose cooperation — which in turn raises questions about everything when none of those making
Nazi Germany from discovering that Brit- with us in the war on terror have been in- whether those nations will consider them- such demands seem willing to tolerate
ain had broken its supposedly unbreak- volved in countering al Qaeda — nor how selves better off to make the best deal they much of what I believe. Shouldn’t di-
able Enigma code and could read their many foreign nations and individuals will can with our enemies.
versity be a two-way street instead of
military plans that were being radioed in have to think twice now, before cooperat-
a roadblock?
that code.
ing with us again, when their role can be __________________________________________
__________________________________________
“Loose lips sink ships” was the World revealed in court to our enemies, who can THOMAS SOWELL
THOMAS SOWELL
War II motto in the United States. But exact revenge on them.
(c) 2009, Creators Syndicate
(c) 2009, Creators Syndicate
__________________________________________
__________________________________________

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10 November 25, 2009
Conservative Chronicle
HEALTH CARE: November 13, 2009
Democrats may regret ‘pass anything’ strategy
Former President Bill Clinton vis- IN THE immediate afterglow of Presi- As for whether the voters will thank THE House-approved bill contains,
ited Capitol Hill recently to de- dent Obama’s inauguration, a bare major- the Democrats if they succeed in ramming among other things, $170 billion in cuts to
liver a pep talk to Senate Demo- ity (51 percent) of Americans believed through a bill (Harry Reid is reportedly Medicare Advantage; $56.7 billion in cuts
crats. “It’s not important to be perfect here. that “government should do more to solve considering the reconciliation strategy to home health care aids; $42.3 billion in
It’s important to act, to move, to start the problems and help meet the needs of peo- in the Senate that would require only 51 cuts to the prescription drug program and
ball rolling,” he reportedly told senators. ple.” That seems to
votes), recent history $5.3 billion in cuts to rehabilitation facili-
White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanu- have been the high
should give them ties. If these remain in the final bill, only
el sounded a similar theme in an interview water mark. By late